Euro Elections 2019

Looks almost certain the UK will still be participating in these despite the Brexit referendum 3 years before. I have never less looked forward to a set of elections. Plus of course these matter for the rest of the EU but in the UK these will no doubt be viewed myopically just through the prism of Brexit.

In the UK Farage is the only one campaigning already for these with his new Brexit Party (having left UKIP when it became too racist even for him). Hopefully at least this will spell the death of UKIP which has turned into a Tommy Robinson loving EDL anti-Islam hateful party.

Remainers are split across multiple parties with no clear anti-Brexit Party. SNP, Greens, Lib Dems and ChangeUK/TIG all vying for that spot. I think Remainers have really missed a trick here, a lot saying it doesn't matter who people vote for as its PR (which is only partially true) but had they joined flags under a Remain Coalition they could have won the election (as in first place) which would have put MPs under immense pressure. Instead I think Farage will get first place again which will put especially Tory MPs under the other sort of pressure.

I expect the Tories especially and probably Labour too to do very, very badly.

I've never been more tempted to spoil my ballot. I can't vote for Farage and don't want to vote for May either.

Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer

ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

Not much of a reply to this yet. Whoever is doing marketing for Farage's new party is a genius. I thought this was a very bizarre logo when it first came out, looks like a house on its side. However where it matters on a ballot paper this is pure genius.

It's actually the original French billion, which is bi-million, which is a million to the power of 2. We adopted the word, and then they changed it, presumably as revenge for Crecy and Agincourt, and then the treasonous Americans adopted the new French usage and spread it all over the world. And now we have to use it.

Very little. I mean three years nearly have passed since the referendum we shouldn't even be having these elections. These are MEPs that shouldn't even be taking their seats yet here we go again. Its ridiculous.

I hate Nigel f***ing Farage but at least his party, along with the Lib Dems and CHUK have come up with clear positions on Europe. The Tories have their heads in the sand and Labour their heads up their own arse.

Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer

ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

1) There's a good chance the polls we've been seeing will just be complete wrong. Polls use of mathematical models based on past voting behaviour, but there's really never been a situation like this before so those models are going to be useless.
2) Any 'message' you might draw from the result has to take into account the turn out.

Sticks and stones take a toll on me but they aren't your strongest weaponryYou can take your shots but you'd best prepare, I can see smoke rising in the airEvery move has a counteract, to turn the tides with a planned attackYou push me down and the rest will rise but first I'm singing a battle cry

1) There's a good chance the polls we've been seeing will just be complete wrong. Polls use of mathematical models based on past voting behaviour, but there's really never been a situation like this before so those models are going to be useless.
2) Any 'message' you might draw from the result has to take into account the turn out.

If we'd have voters behave like in polls the last decade or two we'd have been under a lunatic fascist government for the better part of this century.

Greece shows us that there is a kind of politician worse than the ones that break their election promises; the ones that keep their election promises.

Nothing appeals. May need to look into the independents even though that would be wasting my vote. EDIT: Nope, the two other independents is someone campaigning to stop Brexit (as if the 3 Stop Brexit Parties weren't enough) and someone who's manifesto is entirely in Urdu which I have no problems with but I have absolutely no clue what he stands for but he's not seeking my vote either I'm guessing.

By series of elimination it seems my only options are Tory and Brexit and I don't want to vote for either of them. Or spoil my ballot but I don't want to do that either. Bah, humbug!

Last edited by RandBlade; 05-16-2019 at 10:52 PM.

Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer

ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

The EU referendum polls were pretty accurate, since the told is the referendum was going to be close and could go either way, which is was pretty much how it turned out. People were just so convinced 'it would never happen' that they read an, e.g. 2-4 lead for remain as a sure remain victory, rather than well within the margin of error.

The results from the Euro elections, on the other hand, could be all over the place based entirely on who bothers to turn out and vote, which is completely unpredictable. I have no idea if people will see these as a pointless waste of time or a rerun of the referendum.

I dunno who told that prick Tommy Robinson he could stand in the constituency that I live in. Also, the English Democrats are another one of those far right BNP knock-offs with the serial numbers filed off.

Sticks and stones take a toll on me but they aren't your strongest weaponryYou can take your shots but you'd best prepare, I can see smoke rising in the airEvery move has a counteract, to turn the tides with a planned attackYou push me down and the rest will rise but first I'm singing a battle cry

I could never vote UKIP but these guys seem to be at least trying not to be racist, or even anti-immigration. I've not heard even one anti-immigration thing from them. And all their ads I've seen are deliberately multiracial and multicultural. Its all about Brexit and on that I agree.

Hopefully the Tories poll in single digits and May is prised from Number 10 at last. Forget worst PM since Eden, she's the worst PM since Lord North.

Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer

ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

Sticks and stones take a toll on me but they aren't your strongest weaponryYou can take your shots but you'd best prepare, I can see smoke rising in the airEvery move has a counteract, to turn the tides with a planned attackYou push me down and the rest will rise but first I'm singing a battle cry

Both the Brexit Party and UKIP had big tables in Carlisle when I was there the other day, haven't heard a peep out of anyone else.

I'm not very impressed with Remainers calling for a second referendum when they can't even be bothered to campaign in the Euro elections while Farage is out there trying to make this a re-run of 2016. Are we just going to get Ref 2 and then all the Remainer politicians are like "well, job done, over to you guys" then phone in the campaign, again?

Sticks and stones take a toll on me but they aren't your strongest weaponryYou can take your shots but you'd best prepare, I can see smoke rising in the airEvery move has a counteract, to turn the tides with a planned attackYou push me down and the rest will rise but first I'm singing a battle cry

Yep. Remainers have been more interested in fighting each other trying to portray themselves as "the true force for Remain" than fighting for the election.

On the back of 4 million signing the petition Remainers had momentum. But that's gone now. Chuk, Greens, Lib Dems and the SNP should have united and stood under one platform. Call themselves the Remain Alliance. They'd have made this a true proxy referendum and could quite possibly have won which would have been transformative.

Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer

ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

Yep. Remainers have been more interested in fighting each other trying to portray themselves as "the true force for Remain" than fighting for the election.

On the back of 4 million signing the petition Remainers had momentum. But that's gone now. Chuk, Greens, Lib Dems and the SNP should have united and stood under one platform. Call themselves the Remain Alliance. They'd have made this a true proxy referendum and could quite possibly have won which would have been transformative.

I think it was too late to do anything like a Remain Alliance by the time it dawned on anyone that the Euro Elections were definitely going to happen, and also that Farage was trying to use them as a launch pad for his Brexit party. If the Remainer parties simply go more of the vote combined than Brexit that might do some good, but nope. Farage is going around on his bus getting milkshake thrown on him, and everyone else is like "if only there's something we could have done about this".

Sticks and stones take a toll on me but they aren't your strongest weaponryYou can take your shots but you'd best prepare, I can see smoke rising in the airEvery move has a counteract, to turn the tides with a planned attackYou push me down and the rest will rise but first I'm singing a battle cry

I'm sorry I don't buy that. Given Remainers have been coordinating already to try and frustrate Brexit the groundwork was already there. An extension has been odds on since February at the least.

Ironically Vince Cable suggested a remain alliance for this election and the other parties rejected. Chuk in particular said they wanted to replace the Lib Dems not ally with them. The irony that the Lib Dems are killing Chuk now is not lost but a massive opportunity for Remainers has been.

Combine the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP and Chuk under one Revoke/Remain/People's Vote banner and they might have been favourites to win this election. Idiots!

Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer

ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

The Remainer plan to co-ordinate to frustrate Brexit is actually - I shouldn't technically be telling you this - to just do nothing and watch the entire asinine project implode under it's own contradictions, which I think you'll agree is going pretty well. That being the case, there is no Remainer Illuminati in place to help co-ordinate a joint campaign for the Euro elections, which honestly only Farage was preparing for.

Chunk are bad at politics.

Sticks and stones take a toll on me but they aren't your strongest weaponryYou can take your shots but you'd best prepare, I can see smoke rising in the airEvery move has a counteract, to turn the tides with a planned attackYou push me down and the rest will rise but first I'm singing a battle cry

You are a bit harsh on your political parties; they're probably short on funds to spend on campaigning in this election.

Brexit party seems to be fine. I wonder how that happened!

Sticks and stones take a toll on me but they aren't your strongest weaponryYou can take your shots but you'd best prepare, I can see smoke rising in the airEvery move has a counteract, to turn the tides with a planned attackYou push me down and the rest will rise but first I'm singing a battle cry

No doubt the inquiry will shed a light on that. Timmermans lost me last night when he went populist on unemployment benefits. As it happens I know a bit about those and I am against playing to the audience on them. Nothing good ever came of that.

Greece shows us that there is a kind of politician worse than the ones that break their election promises; the ones that keep their election promises.

Pretty sure I'll be voting for the Center Party this time. Their leader has made an accurate analysis of the hilarious missteps of conservative/center-right parties elsewhere in the west, adopted a firm and principled stance both against collaboration with xenophobes & populists and for liberal & progressive policies, and very effectively furthered her party's agenda in an electoral situation that has severely humiliated the other parties in the conservative Alliance coalition.

“Humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries, but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.”
— Bill Gates